Jane Geddes - Part 1 (The Early Years)

In this first installment of our four-part conversation with two-time major champion Jane Geddes, FORE the Good of the Game co-hosts Mike Gonzalez and Bruce Devlin take listeners on a journey back to Jane’s unlikely beginnings in golf—and what a story it is.

Born and raised on Long Island, Jane Geddes never set foot on a golf course until the age of 15. A move to Summerville, South Carolina left her feeling like an outsider—until a chance introduction to the game changed her life forever. With no prior experience, no clubs of her own, and no country club pedigree, Jane’s golf journey began with a single seven-iron and a generous teaching pro, Derek Hardy, who saw something special in her swing from day one.

Jane reflects with honesty and humor on the cultural shock of moving to the South, the loneliness of high school, and how golf became her unexpected refuge. From shag bags and Walmart clubs to developing her game on a neighborhood driving range, this is a raw and inspiring look at how talent, curiosity, and a bit of fate launched one of the great careers in women’s golf.

You’ll hear how she went from a complete unknown to walking onto the Florida State team, and how pivotal influences—including Derek Hardy, Dave Pelz, Jim McLean, and Dr. Bob Rotella—shaped her game and mindset.

This episode offers a rare glimpse into the humble and heartfelt beginnings of a future major champion. Jane’s story is proof that greatness can come from the unlikeliest of places.

Subscribe and stay tuned—Jane’s journey is just getting started, "FORE the Good of the Game."

Transcript

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Mike Gonzalez 0:13

Then it started to Welcome to another edition of FORE the Good of the Game and Bruce Devlin. Not only do we have a two-time major winner with us, uh, we also have a lady from South Carolina.

Jane Geddes 0:26

We do, yes.

Bruce Devlin 0:27

That's right.

Jane Geddes 0:28

Yes. Somerville, South Carolina.

Bruce Devlin 0:32

What a great player. Two major championships, as you mentioned, 15 professional wins, 11 on the LPGA tour, and it is indeed a pleasure to have with us today Jane Geddes. Jane, thanks for joining Mike and I.

Jane Geddes 0:49

Thank you so much. I'm honored to be here with you guys. I'm looking forward to it.

Mike Gonzalez 0:53

Well, we are too. And then the other thing I forgot to mention at the top is you too were a podcaster.

Jane Geddes 0:59

I I was a podcast. I had a very short podcast life. It was COVID-oriented, but it was fun. I got to uh I was um overseeing the Legends Tour at the time, and we were very bored during COVID, and I decided maybe it would be fun to talk to some of my friends on tour via a podcast. So we didn't really have a script or anything, we just kind of bantered back and forth. But, you know, you know, Bruce, what it's like to have those friendships on tour that run so deep, and you know, and you have so many great stories to tell and whatnot. So it was it was fun.

Bruce Devlin 1:35

And you don't talk to your friends as often as you would like to either as you get older. You know, I look at some of my relationships. Uh I was saying the other day to a friend of mine, you know, it's 70 years since Gary Player and myself played an exhibition in a little town in Australia. So uh that's a long time.

Jane Geddes 1:55

Isn't that crazy? Isn't that I I think that too. Well, I mean, I'm on my so I qualified for the tour in 1983. So I how many years that's like a billion years? It seems like 40 something years. I mean, it doesn't feel like, you know, I mean, I don't feel like it's that long. But anyway, yeah, time flies.

Mike Gonzalez 2:13

Yeah, we've been doing this for four years, as you know, and and I I know for Bruce it's been wonderful just as a catch-up with all of his friends, male and female, because not only the folks he played with, but uh uh you know he followed a lot of the ladies uh with his broadcast career, right?

Jane Geddes 2:29

Yeah, yeah. I think that's the last time you and I have seen each other, Bruce, probably during one of those events. Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 2:36

Well, as you both know, we always like to go way back to the beginning. Uh we know you were born in New York, uh, and uh we want to hear a little bit about what life was like as a young child growing up there. And then of course, I think about age 15 you did finally make your way to South Carolina, didn't you?

Jane Geddes 2:54

I did. Yes, I did. So I grew up on Long Island. Um Long Island. Long Island. I can do the accent if we, you know, if we really want, but um I lost it when I went to South Carolina on purpose. Um, and I'll tell a little bit of that story in a minute. But yeah, I grew up on Long Island. I mean, my, you know, just regular old blue-collar, not a country club kid, didn't know anything about golf. Uh, had two brothers, and we played every sport that you could play in the street, basically. You know, we played baseball and football and whatever. Um, and so I was pretty athletic. Um, and so that I had that going for me. I played, like I said, I played all kinds of sports. And um when I was 15, my dad, uh, who is just a salesman, he got transferred to South Carolina. And uh I say when I say I moved, I moved to the Charleston area, which was Somerville, South Carolina, and uh we moved to Charleston before Charleston was Charleston. Um, so it was, you know, it was sort of a I don't I don't want to say run down, but it was it was not a it was not a destination by any stretch of the imagination. So we moved about 20 miles north or so, and I remember when I got my license, my dad was like, do not drive to Charleston. I mean, it was just a dangerous kind of place. So one of my favorite cities now, but back then it was, yeah. Um, so I moved, you know, I moved there. I was this Long Island kid with this accent, like back in the West Side story days. I talked like this. There was my mother and my father, and we had ball, you know. I played a ball, I played baseball, and whatever. And I moved to Somerville, South Carolina. Again, nobody really moved to South Carolina to Somerville from you know, Long Island. Um, so I was a bit of a Martian. I mean, people were I dressed different, I talk different, and I was I was miserable. And um, you know, I was a sophomore in high school or whatever, and my mom was desperate. She was desperate to figure out, you know, they almost sent me back to New York, honestly. And yeah, and um at that point that time, there was an article in the um post and courier newspaper about Beth Daniel. Beth had just won her second U.S. amateur, and there was an article about her and her swing coach, Derek Hardy. My mom saw it, and she came to me and said, She had a brilliant idea and said, Would you maybe like to play golf? And I was like, golf? Why what? I mean, I I don't even know. I don't even we don't have golf clubs. I mean, I I we were not the country club family, right? We were living near a golf course in Somerville. So I think that was her like, well, we live near the golf course. Anyway, she she did not listen to me and scheduled a lesson with Derek Hardy at the country club of Charleston and took me over there. I had no clubs, I did nothing. I just showed up. Derek's there, he's like, hi, you know, and takes me out on the driving range, gives me a seven iron out of a set that he had there, takes me on the driving range for an hour, comes back, and my mom is there, and he says to my mom, if you bring her back, your daughter back, I will not charge you for a lesson. So my mom said, Okay, and I and I and and so we left, and I was intrigued, right? Because I could do what he asked me to do. I never ever gripped a club. I I didn't do nothing. So I learned how to play that moment and from from nothing. So I had nothing to correct. I had nothing. So there was a little driving range to my house. It ended up being my solace in the end because I could go, I ended up being really intrigued. I would, he gave me this seven iron, and I went and I would hit seven irons on this driving range. I had to pick up the balls myself, but I'd go and I'd go there, but I could go by myself, and I didn't need friends, I didn't need anything. Um, and I wasn't necessarily a loner kind of person, but at that moment in my life it worked. And quite honestly, I mean, the rest is sort of history beyond that because Derek ended up being my coach for my whole career. Yeah, and he just passed away a couple weeks ago, so that was kind of a bittersweet. But he um he was actually still living in Somerville, and um, but a wonderful man, um, wonderful coach, and I literally still have the same swing thoughts when I go out and play now that I did when I was back on the range at the country cup of Charleston. So um, so I started playing then, and then um kind of that that that yeah, would you like to ask another question around that? Because that that was how I got to at least starting to play golf.

Bruce Devlin 7:57

So yeah, I got a question for you. When did you get your first set of golf clubs?

Jane Geddes 8:02

Right after that at um like Walmart? I I don't know, like someplace like that. My parents didn't know. Right. I remember I got a set of Wilson something. You know, my parents went and got me a set of Wilson, they weren't even Wilson staff's end, Bruce. They were Wilson something, right? Yeah, right. And I got some balls, you know, they'd get me these balls that were like they they were kind of like rubber. You remember the ones that were like, I don't know, they didn't they didn't fly well or anything, but I had I had a little shag bag, you know, and I'd go and I'd hit them out there and I'd go pick them up, and that was it.

Mike Gonzalez 8:40

But when you picked them, when you picked them up, you probably counted them too, didn't you?

Jane Geddes 8:43

I probably did because I didn't want to lose any of those. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely all of it, right?

Mike Gonzalez 8:50

Yeah. So okay, so there's there's a lot to talk about then. Um you move at 15. I too moved at 15, and so I kind of can kind of relate, right? It's a middle high school, kind of a tough time because you're really connected with friends and things, and you know, it's almost like starting over, isn't it?

Jane Geddes 9:07

100%. I I have 15-year-old twins right now. I could not imagine. I mean, they would they wouldn't go. I mean, if if we said we're moving, they'd be like, no, we're not, you know, we're so yeah, it was it was and it was difficult, but this was 1976, 75. Back then, I would I moved into the deep south. And so there was this, you know, I mean, again, Charleston wasn't Charleston. I moved into a small southern town. I was so different, so different. And so uh in so many different ways. And so that made it even just the challenge of being 15, but also that made it really challenging for me as well.

Mike Gonzalez 9:52

Yeah. So interesting though, that you, I mean, as we've heard from most of our other guests, it seems like everyone played multiple sports. They enjoyed the team dynamics of basketball and baseball, but also the individualism of some other sports and and uh uh developing hand-eye, and that's just all part and parcel to becoming a uh you know an elite athlete at some sport, isn't it?

Jane Geddes 10:15

Yeah. I I mean I was fortunate because I was athletic and coordinated. And so I think that you know, that first lesson with Derek, uh I played softball was my sport then. And so I the the hand-eye of the ball and and everything, it it kind of connected, right? And so I think that helped. You know, it it helped me understand gripping the club and swinging and just that motion, you know. I had at least some it was relevant in some way.

Mike Gonzalez 10:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you go back to that first set, uh uh I can remember Oh, this is probably late sixties, maybe. So a little bit, a little bit before uh you coming to play golf, playing with club specials. Yeah, club special. Yeah, high school match. They'd issue us one club special. Gotta love it. Right? Don't lose it. And for the season, for the season, one Chi Chi Rodriguez golf glove.

Jane Geddes 11:15

You gotta love it. I love it.

Mike Gonzalez 11:17

That by the end of the season smelled like Limburger cheese.

Jane Geddes 11:20

That's uh yeah, I'm sure it did. And you better have not lost too many of those golf balls either.

Mike Gonzalez 11:25

Yeah, that's right. That's right. So you're picking up your balls, you're counting them. Uh, you got a little driving range you said close to home that you were able to probably get. It was.

Jane Geddes 11:33

It was c it was close. I lived like right near a golf course, so I could kind of ride my bike down there and go um do that. But speaking of high school sports, so that that was, you know, that we had no girls team.

Bruce Devlin 11:47

No.

Jane Geddes 11:47

The women at the club that I lived near didn't allow me to play because I was too young.

Mike Gonzalez 11:53

Interesting.

Jane Geddes 11:53

Interesting, and probably too good. You know how that goes. Yeah, I know how that even though I wasn't good, I was still better, right? Um and so I, even though I was playing golf then at 15, I you know, all I was doing was kind of on the driving range, right? Um, and trying to figure out Derek kind of directed me a little bit on tournaments to play. My parents didn't know. They had no idea. It's not like you go on the internet back then and figure it all out, right? I mean, you know, so it was so my my even though I feel like I really fast tracked because I started so late, it was still interesting going through that um during that time and having to figure out where do I play and what do I do and you know, all of that as well. And because you know, you you go hitting balls on a driving range is not playing golf, right?

Mike Gonzalez 12:44

So yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, the the the opp the athletic opportunities for women were just beginning to change. Title Nightland just was just coming in on the scene, right?

Jane Geddes 12:52

Yep.

Mike Gonzalez 12:53

Yeah.

Jane Geddes 12:54

Yeah. So um, yeah. So then I decided, you know, I was playing all through high school, or playing, you know, my last three years, and then I decided during my senior year, I think I want to go to play golf in college. And I played like three tournaments in my life, I think. I don't know.

Mike Gonzalez 13:09

Well, did you play any? Did you play on the boys' team then the in high school or no?

Jane Geddes 13:13

They didn't allow me.

Mike Gonzalez 13:14

So no competitive golf of any kind team-wise at school for you.

Jane Geddes 13:19

Oh no, no, none. Nothing, nothing. Yeah, I and I just played like a few tournaments around. I tried to qualify for the US amateur. I played a couple local tournaments, um, but nothing like super successful, right? And so I um my mom, I told my mom and my dad I wanted to go play in college, but I had no resume. And so my mom, God love her, she drove me around to some schools that she thought I might want to go to to meet with the coaches. I don't know, whatever. So there was a tournament in North Carolina that I went to. I it was like uh, I don't even, maybe the North South or something, and I tried to qualify, didn't qualify. So on the way home, I decided that North Carolina Chapel Hill would be one of my choices, right? So I go and I I um set up a meeting with um Coach Gunnells. Uh I just love her, loved her, loved her. And so after I got to know her, but went and met her, and she's just the nicest lady and just sat in her office, you know, and she's like, Well, honey, tell me a little bit about your golf game. It's me and my mom here. And I'm like, well, you know, I just kind of started playing and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And she says, Well, honey, you know, basically, don't call us, we'll call you. You know, good luck with your search and blah, blah, blah. Right. And then on the way home, out beyond that, I went to the University of Charlotte and um stopped and met the coach, and she was like, Oh, come on. She didn't, they didn't even, they hardly had a team, right? They had three or four people. They were like, You can come, you can come tomorrow if you want. So I went there, they ended up canceling the team after like a semester. So that's when I called Florida Florida State coach, and he kind of said the same thing. Well, if you want to come down and try out, you can come try out. Yeah, yeah. And I took that as a come, you're on the team. Come on, I was like, I'm going to Florida State to play golf, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 15:15

Yeah, yeah. So yeah. Yeah, so your path to college golf was a heck of a lot different than than most. Oh. Boy, wasn't it?

Jane Geddes 15:23

Yeah, I didn't, I just I I kind of just it, you know what? I'll I don't know how many times I'm gonna say this today, but I just feel so much of the path of my life has just been almost like fate. Like, you know, you give yourself opportunities and you take you take them, and and then there's roads, you know, the divides in the roads, and you take roads and they either go well or they don't. And and I just feel like I've been so fortunate and I just, you know, kind of taken a lot of twists and turns, but ended up in a lot of really good places.

Mike Gonzalez 16:00

So we've heard that from others. Uh uh some would express it as, you know, we I never had a plan B, always had a plan A.

Jane Geddes 16:07

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 16:08

Uh or really didn't have a master plan I was executing against.

Jane Geddes 16:13

Yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 16:14

But I think the common thread that I see through all these people is they've got a they've got a very high level of confidence in their self, in their drive, and their abilities, yeah. And that'll get them through. That'll it'll it'll work out because of that, right?

Jane Geddes 16:27

You have to believe, right? Uh I mean, whether it's yeah, whether it's kind of almost like false hope at time, but sometimes that works out. It's kind of interesting how that happens, right?

Mike Gonzalez 16:36

Yeah, I mean, to be 17, 18 years old and not ha, as you said, not having played in many championships uh or or seen a lot of what you would consider high-level national, at least not international, but national competition, uh, to then say, Oh, yeah, I want to I want to play golf in college. Well, that's you know, to some they might say, Boy, that's that's pretty brash, you know. It was a little strange.

Jane Geddes 16:58

It was it was very strange. Yeah, because when I showed up on the scene, nobody knew who I was. Nobody. You know, they were even even at Florida State, you know, we had a pretty decent team, even though we were they he had recruited from all over the place, Canada and all they wouldn't, they were like, Who are you? Like never even heard your name, you know.

Mike Gonzalez 17:17

Well, so so before we cover college golf, a couple thoughts. One is is wanting to hear a little bit about when you really got hooked. You know, was there a moment in time when you said, ah, I want to do this? And then and then and then secondly, take us through how sort of various aspects of your game developed in those early years, even prior to college.

Jane Geddes 17:35

Yeah, I so I I I I feel like, again, fate, I've I feel like I was so fortunate to connect with Derek and Derek Hardy. Uh his teaching style for me and where I was uh, you know, being a little older and whatnot, was sort of it was perfect. Um, I I'm very much a field player, and his the what his teaching methodology, at least with me, was really, really simple. I mean, I to this players on tour that were friends of mine that were really, you know, analytical. I mean, they would give me such a hard time because my swing thought my entire life was A to B. And and I had this like little invisible shelf up here that I would try to put my hands on the shelf. That's still my swing thought. That's it. That's my golf game. And so I I literally, you know, so I felt like that allowed me because of the simplicity of it and the fact that I was getting good results from that simplicity, really allowed me to sort of fast track. I I wasn't analytical, I didn't spend, I'm not a range rat by and never been my entire career. And I'll talk about that a little bit later on. The the craziness of not hitting any balls for a really long time. And um, so it all fit into my personality, it all fit into my my um my athleticism or or whatnot and my psyche around sports. Um, and so again, I was very fortunate that I that I was able to have that sort of, I don't know, like and it and allowed me, it just allowed me to progress so much quicker. I had to learn the game. Being like I said, being on the driving range is a different story than learning the game. So the learning the game part for me came in college. So my first year in college, just that semester, I averaged like 84, 85. By the time I got down to Florida State, my first year of Florida State, I averaged like 76 or 77. So between the summer of when I got there and then when I went to Florida State, my coach Berlin Giles, he was a player and he had a great short game and he taught me about the game, right? He taught me, you know, I was I didn't know not to hit driver in every hole. It was like that, right? You know, you hit it long. Why are you hitting driver there? I had then he so he, you know, found me a one iron, and I had this one iron that was like my, you know, my saving grace, you know, like so little things like that like taught me how to play the game. Again, sort of in a fast track mode. Yeah, you know, through my through my college career at Florida State.

Mike Gonzalez 20:18

Yeah, yeah. At some point you kind of learn it's about getting it in the hole.

Jane Geddes 20:21

Yes, you do. Exactly. Exactly. So that's what I that's that's what I'm saying.

Mike Gonzalez 20:30

So take us through Derek in terms of what his strengths were in in various aspects of your game versus some of the other influences you had that might have impacted your your thinking on the golf course, course management, putting, chipping, other aspects of your game.

Jane Geddes 20:46

So some people that I worked with.

Mike Gonzalez 20:48

Yeah, so so I mean, was Derek pretty much your swing guy, your full swing guy?

Jane Geddes 20:53

He was my full swing guy. Um, through the years, when I lived at different places, when I couldn't get Derek, Derek lived in South Carolina, then he he was out in California for a while teaching. I I was living in Florida, so there was a period of time I worked a little bit with Jim McLean. Um I worked with some other people, but always referencing, knowing Jim. I remember having a conversation with Jim, you know. All right, I work with Derek Hardy, here are the things I'm working on, here's what I want. So more as eyeballs, helping, you know, as helping me out, seeing, you know how that goes, right? Seeing what I want to see. Video with Jim was one of the first times I got Jim was doing video back then when he was he was at Durral and I was living down in Miami then. And so he was helping me with that. Um, I worked with Dave Pelts, which completely transformed my career. Um, it was funny. I was playing around with Death Daniel one time, we were playing a practice round, and she had just come from working with Dave Pelts, and and short game has always was always my the most challenging part for me, putting. Um, but I got to be a better short game player all the way. Around through Dave, but I was playing a practice run with Beth and I was complaining about my short game. And she's like, You should go see this guy. He's like really good. I just went and see him. What's him? It was a game changer for me. Um, so I work with Dave throughout my career, and then I also work with Bob Rotella, which that doesn't need to, you know, Bob's Bob. The mom is amazing. And for me, again, you know, keep it simple, stupid, like all of that with Bob, you know, like the make me feel stupid in a good way about what I'm thinking. Why are you thinking that? Like that's you know, that's stupid, you know. So again, that same as Derek, that, you know, kind of black and white um Dave Pelts with his methodology and how he he taught the short short game them and very uh specific and not not a lot of stuff, like all that simplicity, it just all made sense for me. And I was able to tie everything together with all the people that I worked with on that. And then then I uh then Derek would Derek would come out on tour and see me periodically. So Derek was my, you know, he he would, if I needed him, he'd fly out and you know, for a day and check things out, and you know, but um for the most part, that was those were the people that really made a difference in my career.

Mike Gonzalez 23:22

The first time seeing yourself on video, how vivid is that memory?

Jane Geddes 23:26

That's crazy, right? Back then, I'll never forget that down at Durral, you know. Well, I mean, you know, you used to have the we used to have those big cameras, you know, and you need to take a video of yourself and and whatnot. But um, yeah, it was it was pretty crazy, actually. Uh but uh can I tell a little video story? That is that is key to so um the week before I won the US Open, we were playing in um Houston, Texas, and I was hitting it horrible. And I mean just horrible. And I don't even know if I made the cut or what I think I might have made, just made the cut. It came home. I was living in Dallas, so I was making a stop in Dallas um and then heading up to Dayton for the um US Open. And my brother, it was um in the summer, my brother was off of um school and he was just out caddying for some other people. So he was with me. So, and he wasn't a golfer, really, but he was there with me, and he's at he's at my house in Dallas, and I was like, Tim, we gotta get that video camera that I have, and you have to take a picture of my swing because I gotta see what it looks like because it I don't know. I and I don't even really know what I was looking for, but I just wanted him to video me, right? So I go out in the front of my yard, and um, you know, it's like a my little teeny front yard, and then there's a sidewalk, and then there's a little strip of grass before the street, you know, and I have an open a field across the street where they were building some other houses. So I put down some balls and he's videoing me, you know, hitting it into the field. I have no idea, I have no idea what I saw or what I corrected, but I said whatever it is, I looked at it and I was like, oh, I know exactly what I'm doing. I know. I guarantee I did not. But it but that um like that, even my brother still's like, I videoed you to change your swing to win the US. I was like, no, you didn't. You went no one didn't have anything to do with it. Because I flew Derek out too. Derek got there on Tuesday and he looked at my swing, he goes, There's nothing wrong with your swing. What do you what you're hitting it great? You know, so it was like it was video sometimes, you know, that like I was better off when I was just feeling it than thinking I could video my swing, you know. So anyway.

Mike Gonzalez 25:40

Yeah, it was still it was still on the shelf.

Jane Geddes 25:42

It was yeah, it was right on the shelf, yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 25:44

It was right on the shelf.

Jane Geddes 25:46

Like I was more crazy than I was anything. So yeah.

Mike Gonzalez 25:49

So you go off to FSU, take us through a little bit of that experience.

Jane Geddes 25:54

So Florida was awesome. I loved it. I loved my college experience. I I was probably not always towing the line as far as my coach saying, you know, you really just only have to focus on golf. Like no sororities, no, which I didn't listen to any of that. And um probably had way too much fun in college than I probably should have, but that was okay. I had a great experience. Um, and uh we ended up um and had a great golf experience. So during my junior year, we were sort of the ragtag group of players that nobody really knew too much about. Um, and we won the national championship. Um just absolutely out of the blue in um in Athens, Georgia, which was still one of the my absolute greatest memories in golf. I remember I I I don't know that I ever cried after I won, but I cried. We all cried after that and out of pure happiness. Um, but that was that team, you know, that team aspect, you know, that you, you know, that was just so special. And to be able to do it with those, you know, with the players that you're you know really good friends with. And um, so that was that was awesome. Um, but I was, you know, I was a strong three or four on that team. I wasn't I wasn't the top player by any stretch of the imagination. And um, and then the next year after that, I uh I played in uh the fall and then decided going to the spring. I chatted with my parents when I went for Christmas and I said, I think I'm gonna try to turn pro after um after I get out of school in the spring. And they said, go. You know, they they you know what they said is you can always go back to college. I wasn't gonna graduate. I I had to, I don't know, it was like a long, I need a couple more hours, I don't even remember all things because I transferred. And so um they was like, don't worry about it, you can always go back. Um, so I took their advice and um and then tried to turn pro.

Bruce Devlin 27:56

Did you go to school any qualifying school or how did you get on?

Jane Geddes 28:00

I so so the story behind that is I left school and I joined the mini tour. And um the first qualifying school was going to be in what August or September or whatnot, at Bentry at Sarasota. And uh, you know, we were all getting ready for it, everybody's playing all these tournaments, mini tour tournaments, and go there. And um, right, we all get to the the Q school, the finals. We didn't, I don't think we had qualifiers then. I can't remember. I think we all just got there. And when we got there, we were told there was gonna be X amount of spots. When we got there, they changed the number of spots that were gonna qualify.

Bruce Devlin 28:45

Less. And less, not up, yeah. Less.

Jane Geddes 28:50

And I missed it by one shot. And um if they hadn't changed it, I would have gotten hit. It was crushing, crushing all of us that missed it. I think Julie Julie Inkster missed it. I mean, there was a whole group of us like ah and I was not in Julie Ingster's class. I mean, she was like, whoa, right but anyway, so I left. Okay, we gotta start all over again. I go and I start playing the mini tour and do not play well at all for an extended period. And um I decide maybe this is not for me. Um, I got just really down and was shooting some really high scores. And uh I said to my parents, you know what? I'm gonna come home and I'm going to uh figure out what I want to do and probably go back to college, maybe go to college Charleston, finish up. I don't know. So I'm back home and um we had a couple mini tour tournaments coming through South Carolina and North Carolina and whatnot, um, kind of leading into the end of the summer and then kind of going to Q school in August. And uh so I had to sign up for I had to play in the one that was in Charleston and uh I played it and I finished and I finished second. And I was like, oh that's funny. So I made enough money in that little one to, you know, I said, well, now I'll go to the next whatever you had to sign up for whatever three, right? So I sign up for the next three, I win the next two.

Mike Gonzalez 30:30

Oh my.

Jane Geddes 30:31

Now I'm a millionaire because now I made $1,500, $1,200, and like, you know, $500. So I am a millionaire and now I'm going on the road. So I um yeah, so and honestly, after that, I went and I played in the rest of the tournaments, went to the um qualifier, went to Q school and qualified in in Sweetwater, Texas. So it was, you know, again, that you know, you know, fate. The tournament's right there in my you know, in my hometown, and um, you know, so um, yeah. So that's uh and I have no idea why that happened. I didn't change anything. I just went home and just almost gave up.

Mike Gonzalez 31:16

It just almost had a clear mind, right?

Jane Geddes 31:18

And didn't have anything, anything in there that was making me crazy.

Mike Gonzalez 31:21

Yeah. So so back to that decision process, uh, which perhaps was an easy one for you to turn professional at some point. You know, a lot of players have an opportunity over their amateur career to have various levels of benchmarking. Their game against the locals, the regionals, the state, the national players, some international, depending on the competitions you're in. Um some qualify for the U.S. Open at age 18 are able to look down the practice tee and see all these greats. What sort of benchmarking opportunities did you have? I didn't have any.

Jane Geddes 31:56

I didn't I listen, my coach and another coach who was the coach down at Miami Dade, told me I was making a grave error turning pro. Later on, they all, including Dot Gunnells at North Carolina, came back and they're like, oh my god, I was so sorry, I was so wrong.

Mike Gonzalez 32:16

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 32:38

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. And it started to slice, just smitch offline. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My cat is as long as you're still in the state, you're okay.